1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recoil starter having a recoil rope wound around a rope reel rotatably supported on a reel support shaft inside a starter housing, wherein the recoil rope is pulled to rotate the rope reel so that a rotational force of the rope reel is transmitted via a resilient member to a drive pulley or a flywheel magnet coupled to an engine to rotate the drive pulley or the flywheel magnet, whereby the engine is started.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recoil starter is already known in which a rotational force of a rope reel rotated by pulling a recoil rope is transmitted to a cam rotatably supported coaxially with the rope reel, whereby a drive pulley coupled to a crankshaft of an engine is rotated via a one-way rotative mechanism such as a centrifugal clutch that engages with and disengages from the cam. In this recoil starter, the rope reel and the cam are resiliently coupled by a resilient member interposed between the rope reel and the cam, so that rotation of the rope reel resulting from pulling the recoil rope is transmitted to the cam via the resilient member, whereby a shock resulting from fluctuations in a load of the engine and transmitted to an operator's hand pulling the recoil rope at the time the engine is started is absorbed, and the crankshaft of the engine is rotated via the cam, the one-way rotative mechanism and the drive pulley by releasing the resilient force accumulated in the resilient member by the resilient member resiliently being deformed (e.g., see Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2-149872).
A recoil starter is also known that is provided with a drive wheel which is rotated via a one-way clutch by a rope reel, and a spiral spring serving as an accumulation means interposed between the drive wheel and a cam which transmits rotation to a crankshaft of an engine, wherein the rope reel is rotated by pulling a recoil rope, the drive wheel is rotated via the one-way clutch, a rotational force is accumulated in the accumulation means by rotating the drive wheel when a starting load of an engine is large, and the cam is rotatingly driven by the rotational force accumulated in the accumulation means, whereby the engine is started (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-132591).
In the above-described conventional recoil starters, the starter housing is so constructed that one end side thereof is open so as to cover one side surface of the engine at which an end portion of the crankshaft is disposed and the starter housing is provided with a reel support shaft that is integrally formed on a bottom portion thereof and projects therefrom to face the crankshaft of the engine. Structural parts such as the rope reel, the drive wheel and the cam are rotatably held on the reel support shaft in such a manner that detachment of these parts in an axial direction is prevented by a screw screwed into an end of the reel support shaft. The starter housing is mounted to a casing of the engine so that an open portion thereof faces the flywheel magnet or the drive pulley attached to the crankshaft of the engine.
In the above-described conventional recoil starters, the screw is fixed at the end of the reel support shaft formed on the starter housing in order to prevent the rope reel, the cam and the drive pulley from being detached from the reel support shaft. The starter housing is mounted to the side surface of the engine at which the crankshaft is disposed so as to receive therein the drive pulley or the flywheel magnet attached to the crankshaft of the engine. Accordingly, it is impossible to couple a device driven by the engine to the crankshaft on the side of the engine to which the recoil starter is attached. Also, in a small engine having a cantilever-type crankshaft, the crankshaft of the engine is only disposed at one side of the engine. Thus, there has been the problem that, when a drive shaft of a mower or the like is coupled to the crankshaft, it becomes impossible for the recoil starter to be attached.